See You Out There
by PinkAngel17
Summary: A collection of drabbles/ficlets written for various challenges featuring different characters and genres and timelines.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I absolutely do not own Star Trek:Enterprise and I think we all know it.

A/N: Just a little random fun written during a sprint. Set Pre-Enterprise and during the NX-Program.

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**Special Talents:**

The out of control laughter going on around the hanger bay was enough for Erika to be suspicious about on a normal day. Today was anything but a normal day, even for the NX-Team. Today they'd hit another road block in the program, but the team was also due a three day weekend starting in two hours. By the end of the break they all hoped that the program could push forward with several sets of fresh eyes, so she wasn't too surprised to find the team beginning to let down their hair already. With this particular team of pilots 'letting down their hair' could be dangerous though.

"And that, darlin', is why you always use kneepads."

The horrible southern drawl was enough to make Erika want to cover her ears. She wasn't surprised though. Very little surprised her anymore when this batch of pilots got together.

"Now, what else you got to remember is to never go down to Mardi Gras in New'Leans without the right amount of spare jackets..."

"That's the worst accent I have ever heard, Archer," she heard A.G. say between bouts of laughter.

Once she was in visual range she saw Duvall with his face in his hands as he tried to control his laughter and A.G. laughing outright as Jonathan pretended to straighten what she assumed was supposed to be a bunch of beads around his neck.

"I happen to think I do a wonderful New'Leans accent," he said, obviously trying to keep up the accent.

He was failing miserably.

"You might want to re-think that, Jonathan," she comment dryly as she crossed her arms and smirked at the gathered group. Jon straightened up almost instantly, a faint blush tinting his cheeks, while A.G. continued to laugh. "Your accent needs as much work as your basic English."

"Maybe it would sound better if he wore those pants," A.G. commented, trying to sound serious. "You know...the purple ones."

Erika bit back a chuckle as she remembered the photo that had circulated half of Starfleet a few months back. It was a great picture, she had to admit, but it was nothing compared to the view in person which she'd once been graced with. "He has a point," she said with a thoughtful nod. "Maybe you should go put those on and try again."

"Yeah, I'll get right on that," Jon replied with blatant sarcasm that made Erika smirk wider as she caught his eye.

"I just came to let you directionally challenged pilots know that Forrest says we need to have a meeting before our break starts. So his office in twenty," she said. "You can all go back to your waste of time now," she added, throwing a knowing look at them before turning to leave.

"Come on, Jon, do one more terrible accent!" A.G. prodded as she left. "And try not to slip up this time."

"I don't know why I waste my talents on you idiots," she heard Jon say just before she was out of the hanger bay.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Nope, I don't Star Trek: Enterprise or the characters. Obviously.

A/N: This was one of the drabbles written for a daily drabble challenge. The quote was the prompt used. This one is from Archer's POV, is set around 'Home', and with implied Jon/Erika.

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"_**Hey, I feel for you, but we all made mistakes when we were young**_." - Pratt, 'ER'

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"Why are you brooding, Archer?"

Jonathan blinked through the odd haze that he couldn't quite comprehend. Amidst the lightweight, almost zero-G like, feeling around him he spotted someone he hadn't seen in...how long had it been? Yesterday? Five years? Something was off with this, but he couldn't place it.

"What?" he asked in confusion.

A.G. Robinson rolled his eyes. "What's with the brooding? You're acting as if your life is miserable."

"Don't you have someone else you can annoy, A.G.?" he muttered, sitting down in a familiar chair in a familiar bar. Across the room he saw Trip, Hoshi, and T'Pol sharing a table. And T'Pol was smiling. That was a bit odd, but he couldn't quite remember why.

Robinson took a seat opposite him. "Probably. You're just lucky enough to be the recipient tonight. Congratulations."

"Yeah, I'm lucky alright." The frown appearing on his face felt like it stretched to his very soul.

"Knock it off, Archer. Your life's not so bad."

"You don't know what I did out there." He sighed and stared down at the drink that had appeared in front of him. "I'm not sure I should have ever..."

"Ever what?"

He laughed dryly in a way that sounded hollow even to him. "We were so stupid when we were younger. You remember, A.G.? We spent a lot of time arguing. I was wrong a few times...that should have been a sign."

"We all made mistakes when we were younger. It's part of the learning experience."

"Yeah, but I didn't learn, did I?"

"You learned more than most people. Give yourself a break, Jon." A.G. stood, the 602 Club slowly fading away in the process. "And get back out there. One of us should still be doing some good."

Jon frowned as A.G. turned to leave. "Where are you going?" His friend didn't turn back around and the next thing he knew A.G. was gone. "A.G.?"

Jonathan woke up with a start, his vision blurred at first as reality slowly filtered back in. The stars overhead reminded him that he'd fallen asleep though and the sound of soft breathing nearby reminded him he wasn't alone. Turning his head he found Erika sleeping peacefully, just as she'd been when he had dozed off. He wasn't alone, not any longer, and for the first time in a long time he felt as though he never would be again.


	3. At The Hands Of A Child

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Star Trek. Obviously.

A/N: So a friend challenged BonesBird to write something for a certain quote prompt and I wound up writing something for it as well. I haven't decided yet if I'll expand this. I may turn it into a full story, but for now I'll just put this here. Also, I highly recommend reading BonesBird take on the prompt entitled 'It's Time, I'm Ready'. It's fantastic!

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**"It's okay. My baby boy. It's time. I'm ready."_ \- Gemma, 'Sons of Anarchy'_**

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Erika forced a reassuring smile onto her face. It seemed a stark contrast to the tension in her shoulders. She needed to appear calm though. Calm and collected and reassuring. It was the only way her baby would ever be able to live through this situation. And even then she wouldn't be surprised if he walked away emotionally and mentally scarred for life.

She supposed she should be thinking more about the fact that soon she'd likely be dead. If not at her son's hand than at their captors'. And if, my some chance, her baby didn't go through with it...and they didn't kill her first either...than she'd be forced to watch them kill her son. She'd rather be dead than watch that. She'd rather die a hundred painful deaths than for her eleven year old son's life be cut short.

HC deserved to live his life to the fullest. She'd already had a chance to live, had already experienced the pain and joy of life, but he was so young. He was her baby.

As much as she wished to see him, and his sister, grow up she would rather be killed in his place so he would at least have the chance to keep growing even if it wasn't with her around. At that moment all she wanted was to be wrapped in Jonathan's arms with HC and Serena cuddled up with them and pretending the rest of the world didn't exist. It was those moments, and many others like them, which she lived for.

And it was those same moments which she would die for.

As Erika forced herself to smile at HC she felt a sharp pain shoot through her chest upon seeing his tearful eyes and quivering bottom lip. He was shaking and his fear and panic were plainly evident in his innocent face. "It's okay," she assured him softly. "It's okay, baby. I'm not mad or sad, I promise. I'm proud of you," she added.

"I...I can't...do it," HC said, his hand shaking as one of their captors forced a phaser into his hand again after he'd dropped it. "I won't do it."

Erika shot a glare at the guard standing behind her son as he prodded HC with the tip of his own weapon. It was a clear threat. Either HC kills her or they kill HC. It was a sadistic tactic and she was finding it hard to contain her hatred and anger at them.

She shifted in her knelt position and had to stifle a flinch when the restraints tightened around her wrists from where they were held behind her back. "It's okay," she told him. She held his teary eyes with her calm gaze and tried to convey all the support, love, and comfort she could possibly give him in their current positions. "You have to do it, HC. For me, okay? It'll be alright. I'm ready," she added, giving him another soft smile.

The tears in his eyes finally spilled over, leaving wet trails down his cheeks. The trembling in his limbs increased and she wanted nothing more than to scoop him in her arms and protect him from all of this. To protect him from death and pain.

She wanted him to continue living even more though.

"You have ten seconds," the lead captor stated firmly. He yanked the weapon from the guard behind HC and pointed it directly at HC's temple. Erika tensed even more and if she wasn't held in place so firmly she would have tackled him to the ground and likely killed him with her bare hands for what he was doing to her son. "Ten," he began counting down. "...nine...eight..."

He wasn't bluffing and she was well aware of that. "HC, you have to do it," she urged more firmly. "Close your eyes," she instructed and after hesitating he did as she said. "Now take a deep breath..."

"Five...four..."

HC whimpered softly. "Mommy..."

"Shhh, it's okay, baby. Everything will be okay." She could only hope that it wasn't a lie.

"Three...Two..."

She stiffened and quickly glanced between the weapon at her son's temple and her baby's tear stained face. "Do it, HC. I love you. Now do it now."

"One."

Everything seemed to slow down in that second. The guard behind HC gave him a shove and his eyes popped open and stared at her in wide-eyed panic. At the same time his hand tightened on the weapon and the phaser was fired. A flash of light filled her vision a nanosecond before everything went black and she fell limp to the ground.


End file.
